


3, 2, 1, Activate!

by benjaminrussell



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, robot fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 01:38:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9151084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjaminrussell/pseuds/benjaminrussell
Summary: Barry gets a surprise when he goes to break up what is meant to be a dog fight.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by watching the Robot Wars Christmas special, and let's be honest, if Len and Mick decided to try robot fighting their's would be amazing. Between Len's electrical engineering knowledge, Mick's mechanical skills, and Len's drive to succeed at everything, their robot would be hard pressed to be anything but the best.

Barry was hanging around in the cortex, animatedly arguing with Cisco about the upcoming Star Trek series when they intercepted an anonymous 911 call. It was very noisy on the other end of the call, but they could just about make out that the caller was reporting a dog fight going on in the warehouse district down by the docks. Within seconds, Barry had changed into his costume and sped down to the docks, where he quickly searched the area until he located the warehouse where the fight was happening. He skidded to a halt at the back of the crowd, frowning a little when he couldn’t hear any barking or growling over the cheers of the spectators. Instead, the room was filled with bangs and crashes, more like the sounds he’d expect from a workshop than a dog fighting ring. He needed to find out what _was_ happening, but he didn’t think pushing through the crowd for a better look was the best idea, not dressed as the Flash, so instead he did a quick circuit of the warehouse until he found a staircase hidden in one corner that led up to a raised walkway. From his new vantage point he could see everything that was going on, even if it took him a moment to work out exactly what he was seeing. The spectators were all gathered around a plastic walled box and inside were two robots circling each other. One was a bright red wedge with a big flipper taking up much of the body, while the other was smaller with a vertical spinning disc and blue flames painted across its body.

“It’s not a dog fight, it’s a bot fight! They’re fighting robots; this is so cool!” Barry exclaimed into the comms, knowing Cisco would be just as excited about it as he was. He leant against the railing and watched the fight unfold, narrating what was happening in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the noise of the action echoing around the room. It soon became clear that the vertical spinner robot was better than the other, even to Barry’s untrained eye, and he was pretty sure it was actually just playing with its opponent. There’d certainly been a couple of points where it could have torn apart the other robot with its weapon, and from the obvious control and agility it was displaying, he doubted that the missed chances were due to the driver being inexperienced. Then a large clock on the side of the arena started counting down from ten, spurring the flame patterned bot to fly forwards and tear a big strip from the side of its opponent. It reversed a little and then went in for a second go, but the other robot had already stopped moving so it was probably unnecessary. The first blow had immobilised it, but then the second caught it at just the right angle to make it spin across the arena and slam into the side wall. A big cheer went up just as the countdown hit zero, the winner apparently a crowd favourite. A booming voice rang out (Barry could just spot a man with a megaphone at the front of the crowd), and announced, “And the winner is... Cryoburn!” The crowd sheered again, but this time Barry could make out the chant of “Cryoburn! Cryoburn!” A door in the side of the arena closest to Barry opened and two men stepped out, mostly obscured by the crowd, but he was able to see enough to tell they had their arms raised in celebration and they were clearly playing up for the crowd. Then they walked into the centre and started turning slowly, waving to all sides of the arena, and Barry suddenly realised with a shock exactly who had just won the fight.

“It’s Captain Cold and Heatwave!” He blurted out.

“Attacking the fight?” Cisco asked, sounding as surprised as Barry felt.

“No, they just won it!” Barry corrected him, leaning further over the railing to get a closer look. Yes, it was certainly his two super villains, and they were clearly in their element, the over the top showmanship sating Snart’s desire for spectacle and the carnage satisfying Rory’s love of violence. Barry was surprised that they hadn’t armed their robot with a flamethrower or a version of the cold gun, although he admitted that the combination of their two trademarks did make for an awesome looking robot.

And then Snart looked up, right at Barry, and positively smirked, like all of his wishes had just come true. Without breaking eye contact, he leant towards his partner and whispered in his ear. Rory turned towards where Barry was perched, grinned even wider than he was already when he spotted the Flash, and then gave a deep bow. The other spectators didn’t realise that the action had significance, but Barry certainly did. Heatwave was showing off. For him. The two of them were obviously confident that he wasn’t going to break up the event, so they were putting on a show worthy of one of their semi-regular showdowns – the fights that were apparently so entertaining to watch that Barry had seen more than one blog ranking them in order of ‘epicness’. He was almost flattered.

Then the announcer joined them in the arena, and distracted the two villains for long enough that Barry could escape without feeling like he’d lost a staring match, so he did another quick circuit to double check nothing illegal was going on, and then sped back to Star Labs.

If he was fanboying just a tiny bit during his recounting of what he’d seen to Cisco, well, neither Cold or Heatwave would ever know.


End file.
